Written by Meghan O'Reilly

Long before splatters of florescent spray paint and caricature cursive became such customary decorations for New York City boroughs, traces of graffiti were found amongst the fallen architecture of Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. The controversial subject matter has since evolved from a territorial gang depiction to an urban pop-culture phenomenon. Award-winning photographer and video creator, Michael Cogliantry, has teamed up with innovative collection owner, Paul Cartelli, to turn overlooked graffiti into this season's poolside fashion with their swimwear line “graffinis.”

Graffinis are exactly what they sound to be—a design that syndicates graffiti with bikinis. Photographic imagery, inspired by graffiti from the burghal streets of Chinatown, all the way to the stop signs of SoHo, is specifically engineered onto a variety of swimsuits, such as Brazilian strings, halter strings, halter sports and one-pieces. For $140, you can get the “Mercer Street Halter Sport”--a combination of the street’s monochrome walls and glass-lit sidewalks. In addition to Graffini's already dignified collection, all new styles will come as reversible, so that you can go from uptown to downtown without the sticky subway ride.

This week Graffini Swimwear takes the metropolitan lifestyle to the annual Mercedes Benz Swim Show in Miami. If you haven’t been on top of your frequent flyer miles, or could do without the amplified heat, be sure to check the line out at Sugar Cookies--the dapper intimate apparel shop on West 19th in Chelsea.